cliff? guest: a $1 trillion budget deficit we have been running annually, that is unsustainable. something needs to be addressed. the shrinking of the time. we have, one has to get something done quickly and then a grand bargain as to get done in the springtime to fundamentally address the long- term budget deficit. but we have to get over the short-term obstacle. we're not looking for any specifics related to whether it should be government spending cuts, tax increases, but one thing we are very mindful of is that some politicians have been -- >> we're going to go now to andrews air force base with air force one burning president obama back. he is in route to the white house today after celebrating christmas in hawaii with his family. he is returning early from his holiday to address to andrews air issues of the fiscal cliff. speaker boehner said that the senate must act first. senators are in session right now. there is the plane landing. this is live coverage on c-span. [captioning perfor